Browsing by Author "Nyika, Farai Donald"

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    Early effects and legacies of Cape Colony legislation on black disenfranchisement, education and migration
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Nyika, Farai Donald; Fourie, Johan; Shepherd, Debra; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Cape Colony adopted a universal male franchise in 1853, which was subject to income and property qualifications. This decision created tensions amongst the white settler community. After several annexations of black territories had enlarged the Cape Parliament’s sphere of control, black people were deemed a political threat and could eventually rule the Cape Colony as they far outnumbered white people. The Cape Parliament subsequently passed laws that aimed to disenfranchise black voters, restructure local government and segregate black people in the Transkei and drove them into migrant labour. In this dissertation, I analysed the impact of two legislative Acts that were aimed at curtailing black suffrage, (1887 Cape Parliamentary Registration Act and the 1892 Franchise and Ballot Act) on the number of voter registrations. I used the transcribed and digitised Cape Colony voters’ rolls to question the accuracy of claims made by several writers about the numbers of black people who lost the right to vote. I found that the number of black people removed from the rolls to be much smaller that is claimed by the literature. I also studied the impact of the 1894 Glen Grey Act was passed to restructure black local government by creating black administered District Councils. I studied the impact of District Councils on black education in the Transkei and showed that black primary school attendance and enrolment rose faster in districts that established Councils than in districts that did not. Finally, as the Glen Grey Act contributed to the phenomenon of migrant labour from the Transkei, I studied the long-run consequences of the legislation. I did this by examining the relationship between internal migration and non-migrant primary and secondary completion in four South African provinces a century after the introduction of the legislation. I found some evidence of long-run persistence. This dissertation makes new contributions to the literature on South African political and economic history, colonial and present-day education.